Friday Rain Gives Way to Wind, Sunshine

Saturday: Blustery and bright with early gusts to 50 mph. Highs in the 30s, 20s north – wind chill in the teens.

Sunday: Sun and clouds, winter air. Highs in the 30s, 20s north.

(Published Friday, Feb. 8, 2019)

Friday morning rain moves quickly enough for the sun to emerge during the afternoon, but the system driving the rain from west to east represents an approaching cold front. This front will allow only for a few hours of mild air when the sun emerges Friday afternoon.

Temperatures will shoot into the 50s on Friday before the wind increases from the west and starts the process of delivering colder air.

In fact, temperatures will fall quickly enough Friday evening that most of us will notice the change in the air before dinner to after dinner. Low temperatures will be cruising down to the single digits north and around 20 south, with a steady wind of 15 to 25 miles per hour and gusts as high as 50 mph.

These gusts will be sinking wind chill values to below zero for many communities. The strongest wind gusts can reach up to 50 mph and perhaps as high as a localized 55 or 60 mph gust will occur either side of dawn Saturday. With all this wind, we may have some isolated power outages as a few trees may uproot in a soft ground.

Wind will be slow to subside Saturday, keeping blustery conditions regionwide and probably causing some ski lift holds during the morning. However, winds will relent a bit Saturday afternoon and even more. Saturday evening and night will have mostly clear skies.

While the cold air will hold on Sunday with highs in the 30s, the far weaker wind will mean wind chill isn’t a big factor. This will make the day feel milder compared to Saturday.

Our next storm chance comes calling Tuesday into Wednesday and will likely start as snow before changing to a wintry mix and then eventually to rain by Wednesday.

Another storm is possible Friday at the end of next week, but as of right now, it looks to depart by next weekend with seasonable temperatures in our exclusive First Alert 10-day forecast.